Wednesday, May 09, 2007

My Garden

The garden is finally (almost) done!!!

This has been a project of mine that has taken several weeks to complete. Turns out that Ohio soil is not really conducive to gardening since it is all clay. So even though my plans were always for a raised garden, the plan to dig it out, never really happened. You would have to be Mighty Mouse to get that dirt to budge. Instead we dug our ditch as best we could for the retaining wall stones, and leveled as best we could, and then just put weed blocker down over the rest of the area. We are hoping for the best!

The left side is home to my two favorite flowers from our old home in Houston, lilies and snapdragons. While the lilies will still be a perennial here, the snapdragons will die when winter comes. I also decided to try something new and planted some multi-colored verbena. They are very pretty and have such beautiful color. I will give you some better pictures eventually. Right now everything looks a little droopy due to being freshly transplanted and having lots of wind.

The middle of the garden is our vegetable and fruit section. We have planted tomato plants (both Roma and cherry), peppers, zucchini, cucumber, beans, peas, corn, and strawberries. We are experimenting this year to see what will grow.The right side is a partial duplicate of the left with lilies, snapdragons and verbena, but also will be home to our watermelons. I am hoping I can train the vines to grow in their designated area and out onto the grass rather than having them attack my flowers. Katie really wanted watermelons though.

Besides our newly built garden we have several other things we are growing. Katie wanted a rose bush in Houston, but we knew we were moving, so I promised her a rose bush when we got our new house. We really don't have a good location for one right now, so we instead bought two miniature roses and put them in pretty pots that can be brought indoors in the winter. She is thrilled with her choices - a bright red and a pretty pink.

I also planted white and pink geraniums in a white wicker hanging planter that I got at Garden Ridge. Now that I am home, I realized there is no overhang on our house to hang it from, so now I will have to go out and look for a shepherd's hook or something to hang it from.And while I didn't plant these, they are really pretty. I have some lavender irises planted by the previous owners that are currently in bloom.

We still have some seedlings in the house to transplant that we have been growing as part of a science and math lesson, but they aren't quite big enough yet. They include our watermelons, as well as some asclepia (better known as butterfly weed), morning glories, and delphinium. Don't know where they will all go yet, but we will find a home somewhere.

Katie and Nick also painted clay pots and planted seeds from Grandma E. in them. Katie has sunflowers and Nick has marigolds. They should have some fun comparing the two pots over time.